The Moon's Mercenaries
by SonOfErebus
Summary: My rewrite of Mercenaries of the Moon, but taking it in a whole different direction. You'll notice the differences right away.


Time. It's truly a wonderful thing isn't it? In the blink of an eye, lives can be lost, life can be given. The moments of your life that you try to react to, is all dictated by time. This is where being a hero is the hardest. You can try and try but if you miss your chance, your window of opportunity, one that could last only one second, you can lose everything.

The battlefield stretched out before them. The nine remaining giants stood at the edge their massive army. Gravity seemed to pull the ship towards the enemies. On the Argo II, things were more than tense. There were eight of them now, with Nico there, so they started to develop strategies. As they were going through who would target which giant the gods all appeared on their ship. Athena walked to the war table and stood next to Annabeth.

"Alright, there are nine giants left and only eight of you so this is how it is going to go. Since the Parthenos has been returned, we are completely in-tune with our Roman aspects. We'll be able to fight alongside each other without any problems. Mars, join Frank and go after Mimas, my daughter and I will take on Pallas, Hephaestus, you and Leo fight Leon, Hazel, Nico, you will join your father with slaying Agrios, Piper, join your mother and Artemis in fighting Gration, Perseus, you and your father will fight with Eurytus, while Jason and Jupiter keep Porphyrion busy. Apollo, Hermes, and Dionysus will hold off Thoon until one of you seven can assist them. The minor gods will hold off the monsters until you can all fight. Once the giants are slain, we will bring the older campers, cohorts one, two, and three, and the Hunters to assist. Satyr, you stay up here with the ship, rain fire down upon the monster army."

The seven nodded and Coach Hedge raised pounded his fist against his heart once with a grim face. They all walked out to the bow of the ship and looked at the monster army. Each child stood with their godly partner. The rope ladder was pushed down and before they started their descent, a spare weapon appeared in each deity's hand. Jason got a spear that crackled with blue lightning, Leo got two ball-peen hammers, one silver tipped, and one Celestial Bronze, Piper received another dagger, this one pure silver that sparkled in the sunlight, Annabeth was gifted a new jewel-adorned dagger, Celestial Bronze, and a stormy gray bow and quiver full of silver and Celestial Bronze arrows, Frank got a dragon tooth spear that can spend three charges per twenty four hours and changed into a regular spear when used up. Hazel and Nico both received Stygian Iron swords, Nico to go with his existing one, and Hazel to replace her spatha. Percy looked towards his dad and in his hands was a trident that matched his and a pair of Roman-Style cestuses.

They descended the rope ladder and stood in a line facing the monster army. They felt a flash of heat behind them and Hestia was standing there along with the reinforcements from both camps, Chiron and the Party Ponies, and the Hunters of Artemis. Reyna walked forward with the Eagle Standard grasped proudly in her left hand.

"Hello Percy, Jason, Vesta has informed us of the plan. We will have the legion split up and lock shields with their cohort. No enemy will break the line. The Hunters will fire from behind each shield wall. Chiron and his centaurs will circle the army and fire into the middle. Correct?"

"Yes, sounds about right," Athena said over Percy.

"Alright, Legion set up position!" Reyna shouted behind her and they each stood about thirty yards apart, Reyna stood behind Cohort One with the Standard and prepared to give orders while the Hunters set up behind two and three. The seven with the gods began to walk forward, as did the giants. They met at the center of the battlefield. Porphyrion was the first to speak.

"Have you come to surrender?" He bellowed loud enough so that the monster army cheered behind him.

"No. We came to ask for yours." Jupiter stated.

With a booming laugh, Porphyrion responded. "Hah, never will I surrender. I fight for my mother, what do you fight for foolish gods?"

Percy put up his hand. "We fight to protect each other. That is stronger than any other motivation. Fighting for some cause that is unnecessary will be your downfall. I promise you, Porphyrion, that I will meet you on this battlefield before the end. I will tear you apart. This is my promise." He said as he turned and walked back towards the other demigods, the gods stared down the giants for a moment longer and followed behind.

Nightfall began, the sky was a mix of orange and purple. Every camper was prepared for battle. Stars were brightly shining in the sky and the moon was brighter than ever. It was thought to be Artemis but she stated that she had nothing to do with it. The seven were huddled up and discussing tactics when a beam of moonlight came down and landed on them. Their armor shone brightly and just like that—they were gone.

They awoke in a small cavern. There was a large pond that stretched halfway through the cave. The other half was a little field. There were trees that stretched over the pond, weeping willows. The vine-like leaves dipped into the surface. The only odd thing was the top of the cavern was open and the moon clearly shone through and reflected off of the pond, making it look like a solid silver. Leo was the first to speak.

"Uh guys, where exactly do you think we are?"

"I honestly have no idea, I can't see the stars well enough to map it out." Annabeth answered.

"My dear demigods, you have answered my call. You are in the void. But you will not be here for long. Only for about six months. I will have you trained and sent back to Earth. You are here because The Fates have decreed it. The war will be lost. But I have taken measures to ensure the gods will not fade. But they will be incredibly weak and they will have to go into hiding. The reason this is true is because the Age of the Gods has to end. Demigods have to take their place. They can exist but they cannot rule. Demigods are different. They can rule the human world as well as our world. You seven will be the ones to take back the world from the Giants, save the remnants of the human race, forced to see things as they are and forced to take refuge. Not everyone will be saved. The gods will take as many demigods as they can into hiding," spoke a woman's silky voice from the pond. She stood on the water in a satin dress of pure silver. Black hair curled down one side of her head and her eyes were pure silver. She was flawless.

"Who are you?" Jason yelled across the cavern and put his hand on his spear.

"I am Selene to the Greeks and Luna to the Romans. I am the moon, not Artemis." She began walking forward.

"Guys, there isn't anything we can do. If The Fates want it this way, that's the way it will be. You cannot deny them." Percy said, staring at his feet. The others joined him, thoughts going to all the demigods on the battlefield. They wondered when the gods were going to get them out, if at all.

"Ah Perseus, such a young, handsome face. I have been watching you since the day you were born. I know what you are destined for, what all of you are destined for, who you are destined to be with, who all of you are destined to be with, forever, and Percy, it is not this Athenian," Selene said while walking up to face him, and then pointing at Annabeth.

Annabeth looked shocked, miserable, and distraught. She pulled her bow out, nocked an arrow, and pointed it right at the goddesses' face. She looked about ready to shoot but Percy stepped in front.

"Annabeth there isn't anything we can do to stop it. All we can do is stay together as long as we can. If it is destined that is the way it has to be." Both of them looked near tears.

All Annabeth did in response was nod and look away. She turned and walked toward the other end of the cavern, her head in her arms.

"Alright, before we start your training, you must rest. I will tend to any weaknesses or injuries you have. You'll all be fine by morning and your trainer will be here. Be prepared." Selene explained before she waved her hand and all of the demigods collapsed onto the ground, asleep.

Percy was the first to wake up, he sat up and rubbed his eyes and noticed five hooded figures standing at the waterfront. He shook the rest of them awake but left Annabeth to Piper, he didn't think that she wanted to see him right now. Together they approached the figures and Selene appeared in front of them.

"Good, you're all awake, now these are your trainers. I've paired you up according to skill and weaponry, Frank, you will be sparring with one of the trainers, Leo, you too until one of them takes Annabeth to archery, and then you'll be with Piper. Percy, Jason, since you have a trident and a spear, I'll expect you to master those. Percy you'll have to learn the cestuses too. Hazel, you'll also be sparring with a trainer since no one here has a sword. Alright now let me introduce the trainers. Let's start with the one on the end," she motioned towards a large person and they all started revealing their faces.

Achilles, Odysseus, Perseus, and Andromeda all revealed themselves but one remained hooded. Selene looked towards them and nodded and slender hands pulled the hood down and Annabeth and Percy gasped, it was Zoe. She stood in front of them and a rarely seen smile appeared on her face. She held her arms out towards Annabeth and they hugged and she turned towards Percy with the same position and he hesitated. She nodded and he gave a crooked smile and picked her up into a hug.

"Alright, now Frank, you and Achilles will spar with a spear, Leo, you and Odysseus will spar and he'll teach you his ways of trickery, Percy and Jason, Perseus will watch over you and give you pointers, Zoe will help Annabeth and Piper, and Andromeda will teach Hazel. Any questions? No? Ok, now let's begin." She waved them along to spectate Jason and Percy's fight.

They got in position about ten feet away from each other and held their weapons in a position they were comfortable with and looked towards Perseus who nodded. Jason had his in a two hand grip pointing towards Percy and Percy had his in a one hand grip that was in the middle of the shaft and the end of it reaching to his shoulder and the point facing downward. He thought of this technique the moment he laid his hands on the trident, he would focus on slashing instead of stabbing, it was more graceful and flexible. He had the strength to use either one or two hands also so it would just be like swinging a really long arm. Perseus pounded his spear on his shield to signal the start and they rushed each other. Jason stabbed forward and Percy responded in the blink of an eye, batting the spear away with his left hand, making it go past his left, tripping up Jason. In that moment of weakness, Percy spun around and whacked Jason on his right side with the left most prong of the trident, a blunt impact. Recovering quickly, Jason dropped down and kicked Percy's legs out from under him. He fell and rolled away from the butt of Jason's spear coming down towards his chest. Once back on his feet, he bounded back a couple feet and they started circling. Forming a quick idea in his head Percy ran forward and Jason got ready to block but in a millisecond change in stance, Percy thrust the trident downwards into the ground and with both hands, he spun on it and kicked Jason in the chest at full force, his forelegs the part to collide with him, and Jason flew back at least six full feet and groaned. Perseus and Achilles looked towards Percy with approval, and the rest of the seven were in kind of awe, it takes a lot of flexibility and agility to pull off a move like that.

Percy walked forward and helped Jason up, clapping him on the back and at Selene's direction picked the next two to go, which was Annabeth and Piper. They walked forward and got about seven feet away from each other and Zoe stepped between them and waited until they were both ready. They nodded and she stepped back. Piper's silver dagger glinted menacingly in the moonlight.

Annabeth put up a guarded stance and began forming a plan while Piper was looking around the cavern and she noticed a slight glare coming from her daggers reflection. She discreetly started angling it towards Annabeth's eyes while moving forward slowly. Within a second she put the light in Annabeth's vision and sprinted forward, she let Katoptris fly towards her and it hit her in the chest hilt first and she staggered back a little bit. In the moment of weakness Piper covered that last couple of feet and put her knife at Annabeth's throat and everyone was looking on in awe. The trainers nodded in approval and motioned for Frank to come up.

"Alright Frank, you will fight this battle with nothing but your animal form, do not panic." Selene said and they brought forth a cage. A growl came from it and Frank transformed into a large wolf. They opened it and a hellhound bound out and rushed Frank. It stopped a couple feet away from them and they began circling. A low growl came from Frank's mouth and he pounced the hellhound, clawing at its sides and biting at its neck but it batted him away and he changed into a rhinoceros and charged the hellhound, swinging his horn at its front right leg. It pierced its skin and it howled in pain and limped away a little bit. He got back into human form and jumped on the hound's back, wrapping his arms around its throat and squeezing with all his might, a snap echoed across the cavern, a quick whine, and it went limp. It dissolved into dust and Hazel was up next.

Her test went by rather quickly, it was just a little demonstration on how to use her metal summoning power more effectively as a weapon, she pulled diamond shards out of the ground, levitated them, and sent them flying into objects. Before they knew it, it was night and they all crashed pretty fast. It would be a long time before getting back to the real world.


End file.
